The Blue Deck Podcast: Into the Attic of the World

This episode is the end of the Book!

Into the Attic of the World has been a presentation of the Blue Deck Podcast. Thanks for listening and sharing! Please, subscribe so you will not miss announcements about future stories. 

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After Dawn becomes queen of Atsuma, Charles, William and Ozzie are ushered to the armory. While Ozzie and Charles wait in a hallway, William goes into the armory for his outfitting.

Passing time on a hall bench, Charles stares at a bottle cap he’d kept from the Howl soda back on the train. He’d kept it because the white-on-red, cursive HOWL script looked so much like the Coca-Cola logo. In fact, the cap was a near-perfect Attic-of-the-World twin for the cap he’d kept from the soda back on the launch tower—a soda from his world. But he’d somehow lost the original bottle cap.

Still…why had he kept this one?

He kept it because it was RED.

Red…why should that matter? His mind had an involuntary fixation on the color: red like a fire truck, red like Darth Vader’s lightsaber, red like a stop sign. He was sick on thinking about it… Red like the blood on the Destroyer Blade.

He turned the cap over in his hand, and when he flipped the top-side up again, he half-expected to see the Coke logo reappear. It didn’t, and why would it?

Then William came out into the hall dressed like a musketeer! He’s got a sword and everything.

“They’re waiting for who’s next,” he says, so Ozzie gets up and goes in the armory, and William sits down next to Charles.

“What’s this?” William asks, looking at the bottle cap sitting between them on the bench.

Charles explains he kept it because it reminded him of the cokes William carried to the top of the launch tower.

“Not me,” William says. “You got me mixed up with someone else.” He says he hadn’t had a Coke in weeks. All he had at the tower was his “stupid water bottle.”

That was impossible, but as William spoke, strangely, his version of the story overtook Charles’s own memory of events. William came up the ladder, nothing in his hands. No coke bottles. And if he had a water, he must’ve left it in the shuttle.

Ozzie comes out into the hall dressed—you guessed it—like another musketeer. He’s so pleased with his outfit because it matches the Oakland A’s team-colors, yellow and green.

Charles is next, so he goes into the armory, weary of what he might find. There are two Blue Skulls inside, a man and a woman. They present to him four outfits: an army uniform, a suit of European armor, a samurai outfit, and finally another musketeer jersey. After a brief inner debate, he settles for being the third musketeer, a choice that seems so much like fate.

When he rejoins his friends, Dawn is there too, with Captain Kid and the Blue Skull with the golden gauntlet (whom Charles is referring to as the Blue Reaper). Dawn is now dressed like the queen, in a gold dress, and she wears the Destroyer Blade. Charles takes her hand, careful to be gentle with her bandaged left hand.

The cyclops lumbers down the hall saying the helicopter is almost ready, and Captain Kid declares it’s time to go. “You didn’t get all dressed up for nothing!”

Charles asks if their next stop is the door to the Red Realm, which it almost has to be, but he wants to hear the captain say it.

To Charles surprise, “no,” the captain says. “I think we have time for one more stop.”

Where will they go? We’re about to find out.

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When Dawn reaches for the Destroyer Blade, King Katsuro spins away as Captain Kid collides with Dawn, driving her to the ground.  What happen? Charles doesn’t know. Chaos erupts, the Blue Skulls ready with their weapons. A guard grabs Charles, the cyclops scoops up William, and someone kicks Ozzie in the stomach.

When Captain Kid climbs off Dawn on the floor, he stands and points to the king’s sword. “LOOK!” he shouts. There, on the razor edge is a gruesome streak of red.

“Impossible!” King Katsuro declares. He claims there must’ve been someone else—someone cut from time—because of the blood. But what about it, Charles wonders. If Dawn was cut there definitely would be blood. But something about it bothers him. There’s just so much of it.

Dawn stands, presenting her hand to the gathering. All can see the cut across her palm.

Katsuro is livid. She couldn’t have touched it! But when the Blue Skull with the golden gauntlet examines Dawn’s injury, he sides with her and gives his allegiance.

“I require my sword,” Dawn says, but when Katsuro backs away thrashing with the Destroyer Blade, the Blue Skull guardsman shoots the king dead.   

As soon as Dawn is given her sword, she petitions to the audience for their help to stop the fairy’s kidnapper. The captain asks for a helicopter and weapons for his knights, including grenades! No problem, they say, but Charles feels the rug pulled out from under him—no way they’re going home now.

Then again, with the help of the people of Atsuma—and with Dawn becoming their QUEEN!—maybe there’s a chance to save the fairy after all. Maybe he and his friends ARE the kind of kids cut-out for adventure.

The chapter ends with Charles talking to the cyclops. Their conversation leaves Charles with a very surprising impression…that given time, he and the one-eyed monster might even become friends.

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Previously in Chapter 28

Charles and his friends are led to the king, Chaptain Kid and the cyclops going ahead of them. When they arrive at the Presence Chamber, the room is guarded by more of the blue-skulled guards. One guard opens the door for them with a golden-gauntleted left hand.

Entering the room, they find men in matching pea coats, on their knees, bowing before the king, with fedoras held to their chest. Along the walls, women are comparably dressed but in skirts. Seeing these people, Charles has a growing conviction that they are not the sort of people to go before a king—they don’t even have uniforms!

But they go in and march right up front. The cyclops introduces them, and right away, Captain Kid starts asking questions. He wants to know how the king knows of the kidnapping.

“The cyclops sees much,” the king proclaims. Then he says the kidnapper is taking the fairy to the Red Realm, and she’s almost there already!

Captain Kid goes ballistic. “Why didn’t you stop her?” he demands. Then he announces to the entire room that if Katsuro the Destroyer is unwilling to help the fairy princess, he’s unfit to be king.

A person in the crowd says, “But he cut himself on the blade and lived.” Remember, the Destroyer Blade is magic, and cuts people out of reality. That didn’t happen to Katsuro, so he was made king.

Captain Kid isn’t having it. He turns to the king and cries, “Then cut it again!”

Katsuro stands, brandishing his blade. Even Cyclops of the Seven takes a cautious step back. But Katsuro won’t kill Captain Kid with the destroyer blade—which would erase even the captains past! Instead, he snatches away the captain’s rifle, intending to shoot him with his own gun!

Just then, Charles feels Dawn’s hand leaving his. “I’ll touch it,” she says, reaching for the blade. And even Captain Kid isn’t swift enough to stop her.

 

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Let's meet that cyclops!

The fairy’s rescue party is ushered to the palace of King Katsuro by gun-toting warriors in blue skeleton masks. The Blue Skulls are a bizarre lot with gold and silver accents on their masks and weapons. To Charles, they look like assassins from a G.I. Joe cartoon.

As the kids arrive at the palace, Captain Kid gives Ozzie his broken compass, saying King Katsuro could fix the switch and arm Ozzie for battle…if he wasn’t abandoning the quest to find the Patch Fairy. This is super important because, remember, Charles suggested they might have to steal the compass to get back to their world. Now they have it without steeling it! But Captain Kid had given it to Ozzie who was to most likely to jettison their plans in favor of adventure.

The captain tells the kids to follow his lead in the palace. If he says “Your Majesty” and takes a knee, the others should do the same. Also, the boys need to leave their silliness at the door.

So, they approach the palace, looking out at a hundred girls in golden dresses practicing Tai-chi on a perfect green lawn. The palace is bright white with blue doors, and blocking their way is the cyclops, a massive war-hammer in his leathery grip.

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In chapter 25, Charles and his friends arrive in Atsuma, the Great City. The city is a sprawling metropolis, colorful skyscrapers everywhere. But like on the train, the city is inhabited primarily by children. Charles doesn’t understand why the place hasn’t gone to ruin. If left to the upkeep of kids, any city in his world would return to the earth in a mountain of overgrown vines or runaway fires would burn the whole place to ashes. They’re not kids, he suspects. They might look like children but something in this world makes it where people don’t grow up.

There were two notable exceptions, however. A woman in her sixties is talking on a payphone and, strolling across the park outside the bus station, there is a policeman wearing a ninja sword on his back.

The police officer walks straight to Captain Kid and says the king is looking for him. Also, he wants to know why Marshal Rayban isn’t there.

Dawn explains that the marshal didn’t come, but the officer wants to hear it from the captain.

“The chief just answered you,” Captain Kid says. “Why do you look at me?” Then, before agreeing to follow the policeman to the palace, he wants to know how the officer knew they were coming.

The man’s answer is another puzzle. “The cyclops saw you coming.”

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Charles Millar and friends contemplate abandoning Captain Kid's quest

After the smokers burn to ashes, Charles’s mind is full of questions and frustration. Also, he’s about had it with this quest. Captain Kid explains that the smokers were phantoms—living illusions. They enchanted ashes and clothes to give themselves shape. When the kids fought back, the phantoms used too much energy and fell apart. They weren’t actually dead.

While explaining this, the captain takes the dagger left behind by the magician. Then after giving the knife to Ozzie, he suggests Ozzie might not want to keep it because it could lead the phantoms to him.

Ozzie rejects the dagger, offering it to William. William doesn’t want it. Dawn doesn’t want it either, so Captain Kid takes it again, sticking it in his pocket.

No one offered it to Charles, and that is sooooo annoying. He’s got a knife of his own—the Swiss Army Knife—but that wasn’t good for battles. If the captain wanted him to be a knight, he should have a real weapon! He throse his Swiss Army knife to William, and without asking, snatches the dagger out of the captain’s pocket. Then he scolds their leader for not taking the swords when the mountain man offered them back at Salvation Mountain.

Captain Kid only watches Charles, not complaining about the outburst, and when Charles secures the dagger to his belt, the captain says it looks good on him. But in the skirmish with the phantoms, Charles’s hand was cut. The injury needs treatment. After that, they should get a little rest.

Links to Joseph Mazerac's appearance on The Bookshop at the End of the Internet:

iTunes: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-bookshop-at-the-end-of-the-internet/id1447159542?mt=2 

GooglePlayMusic: https://play.google.com/music/listen#/ps/Iqgwb5e25bmjzmgx6tcyac43sdu 

Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/6Fm25oqPKmrGMZcidBbXPM 

iHeartRadio: https://www.iheart.com/podcast/269-the-bookshop-at-the-end-of-30811787/

Buy Into the Attic of the World on Amazon

Buy After the Pandemic: Visions of Life Post COVID-19 on Amazon

Twitter: @josephmazerac

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/JosephMazeracAuthor/

Send a message to [email protected] if you want a signed book!

Website: thebluedeck.com

When the silver witch slaps Charles for the second time, an idea springs into his head—he’d been on this train before! But that didn’t make sense. It was impossible. He’d never been to this world before, much less the weird road-going bus-train. Then as he looked back at his friends… Yes, he had been on this train, and not only that but in this very situation. He could remember it (sort of) and the last time he was here, he’d been with William, Dawn, and Ozzie… except… the William he saw now looked different, not much different, just a little thicker with bigger ears but so similar they must’ve been brothers.

It was a trick. It had to be. The magician with the curled mustache was playing mind tricks on him. Then a fight breaks out between the kids and the adults, but as the grownups fight, they fall apart, crumbling to ashes and leaving their empty clothes behind. In the process, one of the men puts a knife to Charles’s throat and would’ve killed him if Charles hadn’t wedged a hand under the blade. Finally, Captain Kid shows up, rifle in hand, and shoots the witch. The woman lifts into the air, screaming out her warning—give up the search for the Patch Fairy, or the Red King will run you through with his horn! The lights of the cabin flickered, then she erupts into smoking ash, her silver dress falling lifeless to the floor.

Links to my appearance on The Bookshop at the End of the Internet:

iTunes: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-bookshop-at-the-end-of-the-internet/id1447159542?mt=2 

GooglePlayMusic: https://play.google.com/music/listen#/ps/Iqgwb5e25bmjzmgx6tcyac43sdu 

Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/6Fm25oqPKmrGMZcidBbXPM 

iHeartRadio: https://www.iheart.com/podcast/269-the-bookshop-at-the-end-of-30811787/

Buy Into the Attic of the World on Amazon

Buy After the Pandemic: Visions of Life Post COVID-19 on Amazon

Twitter: @josephmazerac

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/JosephMazeracAuthor/

Or email me, [email protected] if you want a signed copy of the book!

Website: thebluedeck.com

Twitter: @josephmazerac

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/JosephMazeracAuthor/