Nelson stopped fearing the Utah desert’s canyons, mountain gorillas, or the serial murderer responsible for the dried blood and bodies; those extra wild and stupidly adventurous Utah vacationers who never go home. Like Bill, this new Nelson in the oval shaving mirror sought much more than the ordinary gifts of daily living. And our Desert Goddess, the no-way Innocent Lady Ivory, was one of those prizes. Silverback thought he had concerns and worries for him, and he assumed that because of the same disgust for his brother, Bill, the Finisher, he had to be coldly erased from Ivory’s spirit like Silverback’s footprints in the Utah Basin.
Something extraordinary and unexplainable except for the secret powers of the Scarlet Owl ring seized Nelson’s mind, and they were too close to the door to his needs to shake off. Whether it came to capturing the silent dark powers of the Scarlet Owl or something else, it had grown like noisy ice in the freezer compartment of a malfunctioning fridge. Neither the old Nelson nor the new Nelson can wrap his head around it. He couldn’t ever imagine losing the climb of excitement. When Nelson surfaced alive from the fierce ocean’s cold crate with its ferocious pressures, the great white shark smiled back with terrifying yet decadent teeth. Nelson’s sole focus was returning to his mother’s state of Utah after winning over his brother Bill, the Gray Wolf who ripped Ivory from his reach. Nelson didn’t hear from Captain again, but there were rumors everywhere that he had become another name on the missing at sea list. Immediately after they returned to the dock, Silverback paid him for his service with a check he failed to deposit.
Nelson understood, unlike Silverback, that Ivory was the key to unlocking the Scarlet Owl ring’s mysterious power. What happened halfway down the Atlantic Ocean’s floor? Their dive led to the path to salvation or unraveling. Nelson was hypnotized by the fading light of the waves as he stood alone on the ship, his black wet suit dripping water that collected around his feet. The captain turned and left for his quarters, still proclaiming his sanity and calm, which masked his pain and failure. Yet Nelson knew the experience stated otherwise because there should have been damages and unrecoverable losses. The charter boat rocked in the oddest order and twisted alongside almost supernatural-powered waves as daylight and land faced the bruised men with aloofness.
The Scarlet Owl Ring spun like steel and bright lights, like the finest-made marble, unbreakable and inflexible, unlike the gills, jaws, or cartilage inside any bull shark. Nelson observed it move gracefully like a dolphin in the sea’s current. Nelson heard the Scarlet Owl’s loud wings, similar to those of a horse with wings, a mighty Pegasus. Then, the rectangular shape flattened and stretched into the triangular, horned Scarlet Owl’s head with its round, scarlet red eyes.
Of course, it was all the damn strange effects of the helium tanks used to breathe underwater. The deep with its strict dimness, hot rushes of cold pushing and pulling with the current, clearly meant that something else lay masked behind the fog. The Atlantic was nobody’s saving knight.
“Nelson, are you feeling alright?” Silverback had already climbed off the safety of the large fishing boat. Silverback was satisfied since their mission had been completed, and they would soon return home. In Silverback’s wet palm lay the Scarlet Owl Ring.
“No–we must hurry, destroy the evil of the canyons before it does us. I will defend the Gray Wolf. Neslon lied. “Is your fate too? Nelson asked, not expecting a reply.
“The Glorious leader of the Mountain Gorillas. They are on the hunt, and they want to find and kill Bill as I do.” Silverback laughed. “It is loyalty to Ivory. I love her.”
***
Not Bill, who will die. Because he’s totally and unchangeably insane. Not to say as the captain who suffers from haunting exhaustion and delusion. And it will be removed as quickly as a wart. Bill has no weakness except Ivory. She’s in extreme danger. He is most likely to murder her and then himself, elope with her in hell. Probably both. “I’ve lived my whole life as a fucking coward. I am not compromising, not anymore. You didn’t believe I could take all the scuba diving training and bring it straight to the Bitch Bermuda.” Nelson said.
Hey, I had a couple of doubts, yes! But you came through.” Silverback tapped Nelson’s chest with his sunglasses.
Remember, I saved you and Ivory. I could have ignored your agony in the desert and cooked those sinister piranhas on a hot plate. The logic was that you weren’t the Utah maniac butcher. Bill, I knew, had that thing all wrong. The Boss didn’t want you dead either. Nelson wondered if the Mountain Gorillas followed them. But I was worried about the Gray Wolf and never wanted to see that creature.
“So you would rather dive down to the wretched Triangle instead. “Silverback added. “I cannot spiritually die, the curse of the bloody Gray Wolf.”
“Then you don’t need my help, Silverback. You have the Scarlet Owl Ring. The Surreal Red Forces don’t care to get you, okay. They still think The Boss has betrayed Bill and has the ring. We both know the Surreal Forces; they’ll eventually kill everyone that isn’t a robot or sky drone. Bill and the Utah Butcher will be free. I don’t know which outcome is worse. The Boss or the Surreal Red Forces.”
Celia Garza 