Mr. Lemmy dropped his hands to his sides. “Bring a whole fucking salad for all I care. Just bring your gun, too. Because Coop and the guy in the other room? Both of those Mouseketeers are going to die.”

Steve checked Giselle’s voice mail and his blood pressure shot up like a Saturn V, but he didn’t want to let the rest of the congregation see. Still, it wasn’t the kind of thing he could let pass entirely. “That Coop jerked called,” he said. “And he hung up again.”

“Of course he hung up,” said Susie.

“No. I mean aggressively. Like he doesn’t take any of this seriously.”

He turned to Jorge. “How’s the boar coming?”

“Real good. He’ll be ready later tonight.”

“Good. Because Coop wants to meet tomorrow night.”

“How late? Cause I have jury duty in the morning,” said Janet.

“And I have to take my mom to the airport,” said someone from the back. Others muttered.

“Fine,” said Steve. “You don’t get to be there for this final battle. In fact, the only people going are me, Jorge, Jerry, and Tommy.”

“Me? Why me? You ditched me the other night,” said Tommy.

“And now we’ll make up for it,” said Steve. “You get to be our point man.”

“What’s a point man?” said Tommy.

“It’s a basketball thing,” said Janet.

“That’s a point guard, I think,” said Susie.

“They’re playing basketball for the summoning box?” said someone in the back.

“I’ll come. I played varsity in high school. Until I blew my knee out,” said Freddy, one of Steve’s plaster men.

“We’re not playing basketball. Tommy is going to lead the charge,” said Steve.

“I feel sick,” said Tommy.

“Just make sure you don’t have to pee tomorrow. We’re going somewhere called ‘the dark floor’ in a place called Jinx Town.”

“See! I told you it was real,” said Jerry.

“We’ll see.”

“Should we bring flashlights?” said Jorge.

“We’ll have the boar. The boar won’t need a flashlight. Tomorrow is zero day, people. We’re going to get the box and bring our lord back to Earth,” said Steve. “Hail Caleximus.”

“Hail Caleximus!” shouted the congregation.

Tommy made a sound like someone stepping on a puppy’s tail and bolted out of the trailer.

“Will someone go and get that idiot?” said Steve.

A few hours later, when he was home safe in his bedroom, Tommy dialed a number. He barely spoke above a whisper. “Hello?”

“Hello. Who is this?” said the Magister.

“It’s me.”

“Speak up. You sound like you’re talking through a goose’s ass.”

“It’s me, High Dark One.”

“Dark High One.”

“Sorry. It’s me. Carol,” said Tommy.

“Carol. Do you have news for me?”

“Yeah. It happens tomorrow night at a place called Jinx Town.”

“Junk Town? What is that? Like Walmart?”

“Jinx. Jinx Town.”