Fierce Lessons (Ghosts & Demons Series Book 3) by Robert Chazz Chute, Holly Pop Page B

is starting to go bald? The answer is not to buy a wig. The answer is to shave it and strut, tall and proud.”
    “I’m not particularly tall and I’m not feeling very proud.”
    Wil and Manny appeared behind me. “Actually, we have a plan,” Wil said. “You know, about the, er…”
    “Trees sprouting from my head?” I suggested.
    “They aren’t that bad,” Manny said.
    I waved her away. “My plan is to only go out at night and hide in a blacked out van. What’s your idea?”
    “It was actually sort of my daughter’s idea,” Psymon said.
    “Well, if Fawn came up with it, I’m sure it’s great. Somebody please tell me the damn idea but, fair warning, if somebody says the words paper bag , I’m cutting off somebody’s pinky finger.”
    “Cosplay,” Psymon said. “Fawn was thinking My Little Pony, but basically we’re suggesting that you hide in plain sight where possible. With the horns and armor — ”
    “Dude! I look like an escapee from a Renaissance fair.”
    “I was going to say comics convention,” Psymon said.
    Wil pulled something from behind her back and held it so close to my face, all I saw was black felt. Manny put it on my head and tapped it down over my horns.
    I took it off immediately. “A top hat? I’ll look like Abraham Lincoln.”
    “A stove pipe hat,” Psymon said. “From my days on stage touring Europe in elegance. I met my wife wearing that hat in Prague. Well, ex-wife, but still — ”
    “You got a date wearing this ?” I said.
    He shrugged. “Well, I didn’t wear it all the time and I was a bit thinner then.”
    “Your ex is very deep,” I said. “I’m not wearing a top hat.”
    “A stove pipe hat,” Psymon said.
    “Lincoln was one of our most respected presidents,” Wil added. “Freed my people. Wrestled. Might have been gay, we’re not sure. It was all pretty cool except for the part about getting assassinated while sitting in a rocking chair at a play.”
    “Do you expect me to tail the big bad professor wearing this? This is the opposite of under the radar. Why don’t we just alert the media and tell the world we’re a covert military force defending our dimension from hungry monsters?”  
    “Relax,” Manny said. “Let us, your humble underlings take care of the covert grunt work. You can still direct the Choir from the van. We just thought…you’ve never been to California, right?”
    I hadn’t and said so.
    “There are palm trees,” Manny said. “It’s nice and warm. We want you to be able to get outside, see the campus and go to a waffle house.”
    “We’re here to fight evil and kidnap a demon mage,” I said. “We aren’t gonna have time to do the roller coasters at Disney.”
    A man cleared his throat behind me. I turned. It was Devin Anguloora. The big Samoan was frowning. “Too bad about the roller coasters. They are pretty rad.” It might have been the most human and personal thing I’d ever heard him say.
    I stared at him for a moment. Malta stood behind him, smiling and looking smug.
    “Have we mastered teleportation, sir?” I said finally. “I didn’t know you were aboard.”
    “Aside from archery, I fly.”
    “Planes?” I asked.
    “I am not wearing a cape,” he said. “I’m a pilot. There are many archers but few as good as me. Fewer still who are certified to fly a Challenger. I’m sure that’s what got me the job.”
    “Any other hidden talents, sir?”
    “I won a cha-cha contest in high school and I make a mean tuna casserole, but only on special occasions. That’s about it.”
    Malta giggled. “She is so not ready to take command of a mission.”
    Anguloora whirled and smacked Malta at the base of her throat with the web of his hand. Everyone stopped what they were doing to watch as Malta hit the floor. She grabbed at her neck uselessly, choking and gasping for breath.
    Anguloora looked back to me, ignoring Malta writhing on the cabin floor. “Never tolerate sedition in the ranks. Troops without